Prior to the conception and development of the present invention, the popularity of shellfish such as lobsters, crabs, shrimp, scampi and the like is generally well known despite the relative difficulty encountered in removing the meat portion from the shell. Indeed, shellfish are often served in their shell which must then be opened or removed in order to remove the edible portion.
Various tools and utensils have been proposed in the prior art for assisting an intended user in separating the meat from the hard shell portion of conventional shellfish. One particular class of tools or utensils that is presently available commercially, utilizes the principle of cracking the shell.
Generally, such cracking tools being used have pivoting members providing for the placement of the shell to be cracked between the pivoting members. An intended user then applies a compressive force to the pivoting members to compress and crack the shellfish. A second type employs a hammer or mallet for cracking the shell. The cracked shell is then removed in pieces to expose the meat.
Both the cracking and the hammering procedures presently being used can result in trauma to the hand from the sharp edges and projections of the shell. Additionally, protective clothing such as a bib, or apron, is usually necessary to avoid soiling underlying clothing.
Another drawback associated with such prior art methods and apparatus relates to the fact that the compressive force imparted on the meat often damages the latter making it less attractive to the diner.
A second class of tools attempting to circumvent the herein above mentioned disadvantages by using a cutting action. The typical tool opens and closes like pliers with jaws that are notched and concave to hold the shellfish and crack the same when pressure is applied to the handles. This type of tool includes a relatively sharp severing section.
Another class of prior art tools involves the use of relatively sharp objects. One such tool includes a planar blade with an open handed slot extending linearly from a terminal end of the blade along the longitudinal axis of the blade. The slot symmetrically divides the blade into two identical sections. In use, one section of the knife is inserted into the interior of the shellfish section, with the other section straddling the exterior of the shell. By lifting upwardly on the knife, the knife is rotated about its terminal end and acts as lever to break the shell.
However, because a pointed edge is formed at the terminal end of the external fork by the linear slot, lifting of the utensil causes the pointed edge to piece the shell of the shellfish and result in an interrupted movement in opening the shell.
In addition, damage of the edible portion inside can result since the end of the section rotates into the shellfish meat. A further problem with the foregoing manual cutting procedures is that the slicing operation can be very dangerous. The shellfish is typically wet and slippery when dressed often leading to mishandling of the shellfish or slicing implement during the slicing step and sometimes resulting in injury to the operator.
The potential for injury increases as the operator tries to speed up operations as is sometimes called for, and uses less care and caution than he/she would otherwise exercise.
Accordingly, the prior art devices heretofore proposed whether of the compressive or cutting or other types have proven to be unsatisfactory.